Tuesday, 15 December 2015

During my term
teaching life drawing, I came across students who struggled to draw. These were
adult students who had plucked the courage to begin drawing after bringing up
children or pursuing a career. Others were young adults who had yet to move on
from cartoonish drawings that are highly stylized. This is often a disguise for
frustration at capturing what is really in front.

So why so some intelligent
adults who have great skills or talents in other sectors find it hard to draw?

Shut Up Left
Brain!

Hemispheres of the brain

The answer lies
in how the brain is wired, causing a sort of picture dyslexia. Our brains are
split into two hemispheres, the left and the right. The left hemisphere is
where the speech centre is located, and therefore is verbal, bossy, labels
things and edits the world to make it make sense. The right hemisphere is
silent, has great spatial awareness and sees things how they really are.

Hemispheres of
the Brain and Drawing Ability

Skewed ellipses

Ever noticed how
hard it is to draw whilst having a conversation? This is because the speech
centre in the left brain is being engaged, but it is the right brain that
possesses drawing ability. Drawing whilst talking is like juggling several
balls at once. This is not desirable for drawing.

The right brain
does not label things, but sees the world as it really is. It has good spatial and visual awareness. In order to draw well, the left hemisphere
needs to be subdued and the right brain promoted.

This means to
stop seeing the world with ‘objects’ with labels, such as, ‘this is how a how a
house looks. It has windows, a door, a roof and a chimney.’ From some angles,
none of these might be visible. Some houses look odd from certain vantage points.
Photographs will testify, yet our left brains insists upon making things make sense.

Signs the left
brain is interfering with the right brain whilst drawing might some or all of
the examples:

You see, the
left brain edits the world. Facial features are perceived as more important
than the spaces between, such as the forehead or the depth of the skull, so
these are rendered smaller than they actually are. The same applies to hands
and feet, as they are noticed less than the other features of the body.

And so it can be
seen that those who struggle to draw are experiencing a dilemma between the two
brains. They see the world in different ways. Betty Edwards’ book, ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’,
as well my book ‘Draw What You See Not
What You Think You See’ explores this dilemma in full.

For now, be
assured that a lack of drawing ability is simply due to a lack of brain
training. This means recognizing when the pesky left brain is ruining your
drawing.

Tips for
Improving Drawing

Try the
following exercises, designed to forestall the left brain. These will subdue
your left brain and encourage your right brain to come through.

During the drawing
process, turn your drawing upside down now and again. This will cut off the
left brain’s familiar view of the world, and render your drawing into a series
of lines and contours that are less familiar. You may notice skewed angles, wonky
lines and accuracy issues.

View your
drawing through a mirror. In similar fashion to viewing it upside down, this
will create an unfamiliar view of your drawing.

Get some
distance. Yes, get out of your chair and look at your drawing from afar. Your
right brain sees things as a whole rather than in its parts. Getting a distant
view means mistakes can more easily be spotted, as it will be seen in context
of the rest of the drawing.

Leave the room
for two minutes. Not looking at the drawing for a few minutes will have the
effect of rebooting the brain and gaining a fresh view. You can also leave the room periodically during drawing to improve your visual memory.

Remember to keep
looking at the objects in front whilst drawing. Often, I have seen my students
sit close to their drawings without even looking at the subject matter. They
are more concerned with polishing off the shading or straightening a line.
Disappointment awaits once they stand back and realize their
perfectly-fashioned drawings are inaccurate.

Handedness and
Drawing Ability

I personally
don’t believe that handedness has any relevance to drawing ability. This is to quash
the pervading belief that left handed people are better drawers than right. I don’t
find this to be true, although creativity and style are a separate matter.

Right handed
people can be as good at drawing as left handed people, as drawing entails good
hand to eye coordination and accuracy. Having said this, I have noticed that
people who have ambidextrous tendencies, i.e., those who have low
lateralization in a preference for which side of the body they use to perform
tasks (brushing hair, kicking a ball, etc..) experience difficulty with
drawing. Low lateralization also seems to come in tandem with poor
coordination, incidences of dyslexia and directional difficulties. After
research, I have also found higher frequency of drawing difficulties within
people who have low lateralization.

This blog offers art challenges for oils, alkyds, acrylics, watercolors, pastels and crafts for all ages which might be used for developing artists or as lesson plan ideas for teachers. I have a BA in Fine Art and a PCET in teaching. I have condensed my teaching experience within my book ‘How do I Inspire my Art Class? I have also written other books on oil painting. Read more about this blog.